雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(1)
On a January evening of the early seventies, Christine Nilsson was singing in Faust at the Academy of Music in New York.
70年代初一個一月的晚上，克里斯廷·尼爾森在紐約音樂院演唱歌劇《浮士德》。
Though there was already talk of the erection, in remote metropolitan distances "above the Forties," of a new Opera House which should compete in costliness and splendour with those of the great European capitals, the world of fashion was still content to reassemble every winter in the shabby red and gold boxes of the sociable old Academy. Conservatives cherished it for being small and inconvenient, and thus keeping out the "new people" whom New York was beginning to dread and yet be drawn to; and the sentimental clung to it for its historic associations, and the musical for its excellent acoustics, always so problematic a quality in halls built for the hearing of music.
雖然人們早就議論要在第40街以北的遠郊興建一座新的歌劇院，其造價與壯觀將和歐洲那些著名首都的歌劇院媲美，然而上流社會卻依然滿足於每年冬天在這座歷史悠久的音樂院紅黃兩色的舊包廂裏進行社交聚會。保守派的人們欣賞它的窄小不便，這樣可以把紐約社會開始懼怕但又爲之吸引的“新人”拒之門外；多愁善感的人們因爲它引起許多歷史的聯想而對它戀戀不捨；而音樂愛好者則留戀它精美的音響效果。在專爲欣賞音樂而修建的廳堂中，音響效果向來都是個棘手的質量問題。
It was Madame Nilsson's first appearance that winter, and what the daily press had already learned to describe as "an exceptionally brilliant audience" had gathered to hear her, transported through the slippery, snowy streets in private broughams, in the spacious family landau, or in the humbler but more convenient "Brown coupe" To come to the Opera in a Brown coupe was almost as honourable a way of arriving as in one's own carriage; and departure by the same means had the immense advantage of enabling one (with a playful allusion to democratic principles) to scramble into the first Brown conveyance in the line, instead of waiting till the cold-and-gin congested nose of one's own coachman gleamed under the portico of the Academy. It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.
這是尼爾森夫人當年冬天的首場演出。那些被日報稱爲“超凡脫俗的聽衆”已經雲集來聽她的演唱。他們或乘私人馬車、或乘寬敞的家庭雙篷馬車、或者乘檔次較低卻更爲便利的“布朗四輪馬車”，經過溜滑多雪的街道來到了這裏。乘坐布朗馬車來聽歌劇，幾乎跟坐自己的馬車一樣體面；而且，離開劇場時還有極大的優越性（對民主原則開一句玩笑）：你可以搶先登上線路上第一輛布朗馬車，而不用等待自己的那因寒冷和烈酒而充血的紅鼻子車伕在音樂院門廊下面顯現。美國人想離開娛樂場所比想去的時候更加迫切，這可是那位了不起的馬車行店主憑絕妙的直覺獲得的偉大發現。
When Newland Archer opened the door at the back of the club box the curtain had just gone up on the garden scene. There was no reason why the young man should not have come earlier, for he had dined at seven, alone with his mother and sister, and had lingered afterward over a cigar in the Gothic library with glazed black-walnut bookcases and finial-topped chairs which was the only room in the house where Mrs. Archer allowed smoking. But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not "the thing" played a part as important in Newland Archer's New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.
當紐蘭·阿切爾打開包廂後面的門時，花園一場的帷幕剛剛升起。這位年輕人本可以早一點來到。他7點鐘和母親與妹妹一起用了餐，其後又在哥特式圖書室裏慢慢吞吞地吸了一支雪茄。那間放了光亮的黑色胡桃木書櫥和尖頂椅子的房間，是這所房子裏阿切爾太太惟一允許吸菸的地方。然而，首先，紐約是個大都市，而他又十分清楚，在大都市裏聽歌劇早到是“不合宜”的。而是否“合宜”，在紐蘭·阿切爾時代的紐約，其意義就像幾千年前支配了他祖先命運的不可思議的圖騰恐懼一樣重要。
The second reason for his delay was a personal one. He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation. This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were; and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that--well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me--he loves me not--HE LOVES ME!--" and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.
他晚到的第二個原因是個人方面的。他吸菸慢慢吞吞，是因爲他在內心深處是個藝術的愛好者，玩味行將來到的快樂，常常會使他比快樂真的來到時感到更深切的滿足。當這種快樂十分微妙時尤其如此，而他的樂趣多半屬於這種類型。這一次他期盼的時機非常珍貴，其性質異常微妙——呃，假若他把時間掌握得恰到好處，能與那位首席女演員的舞臺監督合上拍，到場時正趕上她一邊唱着“他愛我——他不愛我——他愛我！”一邊拋灑着雛菊花瓣，其暗示像露水般清澈——果真如此，他進音樂院的時機就再美妙不過了。
She sang, of course, "M'ama!" and not "he loves me," since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English- speaking audiences. This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded: such as the duty of using two silver- backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair, and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole.
當然，她唱的是“呣啊嘛”，而不是“他愛我”，因爲音樂界那不容改變、不容懷疑的法則要求，由瑞典藝術家演唱的法國歌劇的德語文本，必須翻譯成意大利語，以便講英語的聽衆更清楚地理解。這一點紐蘭·阿切爾覺得和他生活中遵循的所有其他慣例一樣理所當然：比如，用兩把帶有藍瓷漆塗着他姓名縮寫的銀背刷子分開他的頭髮，鈕釦洞裏插一朵花（最好是桅子花）纔在社交界露面。
"M'ama . . . non m'ama . . . " the prima donna sang, and "M'ama!", with a final burst of love triumphant, as she pressed the dishevelled daisy to her lips and lifted her large eyes to the sophisticated countenance of the little brown Faust-Capoul, who was vainly trying, in a tight purple velvet doublet and plumed cap, to look as pure and true as his artless victim.
“呣啊嘛……農呣啊嘛……”首席女演員唱道，她以贏得愛情後的最後爆發力唱出“呣啊嘛！”一面把那束亂蓬蓬的雛菊壓在脣上，擡起一雙大眼睛，朝那位陰鬱的小浮士德——卡布爾做作的臉上望去。他穿一件紫色的絲絨緊身上衣，戴一頂鼓囊囊的便帽，正徒勞地裝出與那位天真的受害者一樣純潔真誠的表情。
Newland Archer, leaning against the wall at the back of the club box, turned his eyes from the stage and scanned the opposite side of the house. Directly facing him was the box of old Mrs. Manson Mingott, whose monstrous obesity had long since made it impossible for her to attend the Opera, but who was always represented on fashionable nights by some of the younger members of the family. On this occasion, the front of the box was filled by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, and her daughter, Mrs. Welland; and slightly withdrawn behind these brocaded matrons sat a young girl in white with eyes ecstatically fixed on the stagelovers. As Madame Nilsson's "M'ama!" thrilled out above the silent house (the boxes always stopped talking during the Daisy Song) a warm pink mounted to the girl's cheek, mantled her brow to the roots of her fair braids, and suffused the young slope of her breast to the line where it met a modest tulle tucker fastened with a single gardenia. She dropped her eyes to the immense bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley on her knee, and Newland Archer saw her white-gloved finger-tips touch the flowers softly. He drew a breath of satisfied vanity and his eyes returned to the stage.
紐蘭·阿切爾倚在俱樂部包廂後面的牆上，目光從舞臺上移開，掃視着劇場對面。正對着他的是老曼森·明戈特太太的包廂。可怕的肥胖病早已使她無法來聽歌劇，不過在有社交活動的晚上，她總是由家庭的某些年輕成員代表出席。這一次，佔據包廂前排座位的是她的兒媳洛弗爾·明戈特太太和她的女兒韋蘭太太。坐在這兩位身着錦緞的婦人身後的是一位穿白衣的年輕姑娘，正目不轉睛地注視着那對舞臺戀人。當尼爾森夫人“呣啊嘛”的顫音劃破音樂院靜寂的上空時（演唱雛菊歌期間，各包廂總是停止交談），一片潮紅泛起在姑娘的面頰，從額頭涌向她美麗髮辮的根際，漫過她那青春的胸部斜面，直至繫着一朵桅子花的薄紗領的領線。她垂下眼睛望着膝上那一大束鈴蘭。紐蘭·阿切爾看見她戴白手套的指尖輕撫着花朵。他滿足地深深吸了一口氣。他的目光又回到舞臺上。
No expense had been spared on the setting, which was acknowledged to be very beautiful even by people who shared his acquaintance with the Opera houses of Paris and Vienna. The foreground, to the footlights, was covered with emerald green cloth. In the middle distance symmetrical mounds of woolly green moss bounded by croquet hoops formed the base of shrubs shaped like orange-trees but studded with large pink and red roses. Gigantic pansies, considerably larger than the roses, and closely resembling the floral pen- wipers made by female parishioners for fashionable clergymen, sprang from the moss beneath the rose- trees; and here and there a daisy grafted on a rose- branch flowered with a luxuriance prophetic of Mr. Luther Burbank's far-off prodigies.
佈景的製作是不惜工本的，連熟悉巴黎和維也納歌劇院的人也承認佈景很美。前景直至腳燈鋪了一塊鮮綠色的畫布，中景的底層是若干覆蓋着毛茸茸綠色地衣的對稱小丘，與槌球遊戲的拱門鄰接，上面的灌木叢形狀像桔子樹，但點綴其間的卻是大朵大朵粉紅色和紅色的玫瑰花。比這些玫瑰更大的紫羅蘭，頗似教區女居民爲牧師製作的花形筆擦，從玫瑰樹底下的綠苔中拔地而起；在一些鮮花怒放的玫瑰枝頭，嫁接着朵朵雛菊，預告着盧瑟·伯班克先生園藝試驗遙遠的奇觀。
In the centre of this enchanted garden Madame Nilsson, in white cashmere slashed with pale blue satin, a reticule dangling from a blue girdle, and large yellow braids carefully disposed on each side of her muslin chemisette, listened with downcast eyes to M. Capoul's impassioned wooing, and affected a guileless incomprehension of his designs whenever, by word or glance, he persuasively indicated the ground floor window of the neat brick villa projecting obliquely from the right wing.
在這座魔幻般的花園中心，尼爾森夫人身穿鑲淡藍色緞子切口的白色開司米外衣，一個網狀手提包吊在藍腰帶上晃來晃去，一條寬大的黃色織帶精心地排列在她那件細棉緊身胸衣的兩側。她低垂着眼睛傾聽卡布爾熱烈的求愛，每當他用話語或目光勸誘她去從右側斜伸出來的那座整潔的磚造別墅一樓的窗口時，她都裝出一副對他的意圖毫不理解的天真的樣子。
"The darling!" thought Newland Archer, his glance flitting back to the young girl with the lilies-of-the- valley. "She doesn't even guess what it's all about." And he contemplated her absorbed young face with a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was mingled with a tender reverence for her abysmal purity. "We'll read Faust together . . . by the Italian lakes . . ." he thought, somewhat hazily confusing the scene of his projected honey-moon with the masterpieces of literature which it would be his manly privilege to reveal to his bride. It was only that afternoon that May Welland had let him guess that she "cared" (New York's consecrated phrase of maiden avowal), and already his imagination, leaping ahead of the engagement ring, the betrothal kiss and the march from Lohengrin, pictured her at his side in some scene of old European witchery.
“親愛的！”紐蘭·阿切爾心裏想。他的目光迅速回到那位手持鈴蘭的年輕姑娘身上。“她連一點兒也看不懂啊。”他注視着她全”神貫注的稚嫩面龐，心中不由涌出一陣擁有者的激動，其中有對自己萌動的丈夫氣概的自豪，也有對她那深不可測的純潔的溫馨敬意。“我們將在一起讀《浮士德》，……在意大利的湖畔……”他心想，迷迷糊糊地把自己設計的蜜月場面與文學名著攪在一起。向自己的新娘闡釋名著似乎是他做丈夫的特權。僅僅在今天下午，梅·韋蘭才讓他猜出她對他感到 “中意”（紐約人尊崇的未婚少女認可的用語），而他的想象卻早已躍過了訂婚戒指、訂婚之吻以及走出盧亨格林教堂的婚禮行列，構畫起古老歐洲某個令人心醉的場景中她偎依在他身旁的情景了。
He did not in the least wish the future Mrs. Newland Archer to be a simpleton. He meant her (thanks to his enlightening companionship) to develop a social tact and readiness of wit enabling her to hold her own with the most popular married women of the "younger set," in which it was the recognised custom to attract masculine homage while playfully discouraging it. If he had probed to the bottom of his vanity (as he sometimes nearly did) he would have found there the wish that his wife should be as worldly-wise and as eager to please as the married lady whose charms had held his fancy through two mildly agitated years; without, of course, any hint of the frailty which had so nearly marred that unhappy being's life, and had disarranged his own plans for a whole winter.
他決不希望未來的紐蘭·阿切爾太太是個呆子。他要讓她（由於他朝夕相伴的啓蒙）養成一種圓通的社交能力，隨機應變的口才，能與“年輕一代”那些最有名氣的已婚女子平起平坐。在那些人中間，一條公認的習俗是，既要賣弄風情，引起男人的熱情，同時又要裝聾作啞，不讓他們得寸進尺。假如他早一些對他的虛榮心進行深入的探索（有時候他幾乎已經做到了），他可能早已發現那兒有個潛藏的願望：希望自己的妻子跟那些已婚女士一樣地世故圓通，一樣地渴望取悅他人。那些太太們的嫵媚曾使他心醉神迷，讓他度過了兩個稍顯焦慮的年頭——當然，他沒露出一丁點脆弱的影子，儘管那險些毀了他這位不幸者的終生，並且整整一個冬天攪亂了他的計劃。
How this miracle of fire and ice was to be created, and to sustain itself in a harsh world, he had never taken the time to think out; but he was content to hold his view without analysing it, since he knew it was that of all the carefully-brushed, white-waistcoated, button- hole-flowered gentlemen who succeeded each other in the club box, exchanged friendly greetings with him, and turned their opera-glasses critically on the circle of ladies who were the product of the system. In matters intellectual and artistic Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number. Singly they betrayed their inferiority; but grouped together they represented "New York," and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine on all the issues called moral. He instinctively felt that in this respect it would be troublesome--and also rather bad form--to strike out for himself.
至於如何創造出這火與冰的奇蹟，又如何在一個冷酷的世界上支撐下去，他可是從來沒有花時間想過；他只是滿足於不加分析地堅持自己的觀點，因爲他知道這也是所有那些精心梳了頭髮。穿白背心、扣洞裏別鮮花的紳士們的觀點。他們一個接一個地進入俱樂部包廂，友好地和他打招呼，然後帶着批評的眼光把望遠鏡對準了作爲這個制度產物的女士們。在智力與藝術方面，紐蘭·阿切爾覺得自己比老紐約上流階層這些精選的標本明顯要高一籌：他比這幫人中任何一位大概都讀得多、思考得多，並且也見識得多。單獨來看，他們都處於劣勢，但湊在一起，他們卻代表着“紐約”，而男性團結一致的慣例使他在稱作道德的所有問題上都接受了他們的原則。他本能地感到，在這方面他若一個人標新立異，肯定會引起麻煩，而且也很不得體。
"Well--upon my soul!" exclaimed Lawrence Lefferts, turning his opera-glass abruptly away from the stage. Lawrence Lefferts was, on the whole, the foremost authority on "form" in New York. He had probably devoted more time than any one else to the study of this intricate and fascinating question; but study alone could not account for his complete and easy competence. One had only to look at him, from the slant of his bald forehead and the curve of his beautiful fair moustache to the long patent-leather feet at the other end of his lean and elegant person, to feel that the knowledge of "form" must be congenital in any one who knew how to wear such good clothes so carelessly and carry such height with so much lounging grace. As a young admirer had once said of him: "If anybody can tell a fellow just when to wear a black tie with evening clothes and when not to, it's Larry Lefferts." And on the question of pumps versus patent-leather "Oxfords" his authority had never been disputed.
“哎喲——我的天！”勞倫斯·萊弗茨喊道，突然把他的小望遠鏡從舞臺的方向移開。就總體而言，勞倫斯·萊弗茨在“舉止”問題上是紐約的最高權威。他研究這個複雜而誘人的問題花費的時間大概比任何人都多。單隻研究還不能說明他駕輕就熟的全才，人們只需看他一眼——從光禿禿的前額斜面與好看的金黃鬍髭的曲線，到那瘦削優雅的身體另一端穿漆皮鞋的長腳——便會覺得，一個知道如何隨便地穿着如此貴重的衣服並保持極度閒適優雅的人，在“舉止”方面的學識一定是出自天賦。正如一位年輕崇拜者有一次談起他時所說的：“假如有誰能告訴你什麼時間打黑領帶配夜禮服恰到好處，什麼時候不行，那麼，這個人就是勞倫斯·萊弗茨。” 至於網球鞋與漆皮“牛津”鞋孰優孰劣的問題，他的權威從未有人提出過懷疑。
"My God!" he said; and silently handed his glass to old Sillerton Jackson.
“我的上帝！”他說，接着默默地將望遠鏡遞給了老西勒頓·傑克遜。
Newland Archer, following Lefferts's glance, saw with surprise that his exclamation had been occasioned by the entry of a new figure into old Mrs. Mingott's box. It was that of a slim young woman, a little less tall than May Welland, with brown hair growing in close curls about her temples and held in place by a narrow band of diamonds. The suggestion of this headdress, which gave her what was then called a "Josephine look," was carried out in the cut of the dark blue velvet gown rather theatrically caught up under her bosom by a girdle with a large old-fashioned clasp. The wearer of this unusual dress, who seemed quite unconscious of the attention it was attracting, stood a moment in the centre of the box, discussing with Mrs. Welland the propriety of taking the latter's place in the front right- hand corner; then she yielded with a slight smile, and seated herself in line with Mrs. Welland's sister-in-law, Mrs. Lovell Mingott, who was installed in the opposite corner.
紐蘭·阿切爾隨着萊弗茨的目光望去，驚訝地發現他的感嘆是因爲一個陌生的身影進入明戈特太太的包廂而引起的。那是位身材苗條的年輕女子，比梅·韋蘭略矮一點，棕色的頭髮在鬢角處變成濃密的發鬈，用一條鑽石窄帶固定住。這種髮型使她具有一種時下稱作“約瑟芬式”的模樣，這一聯想在她那件深藍色絲絨晚禮服的款式上得到了印證，那禮服用一條帶老式大釦子的腰帶在她胸下十分誇張地挽住。她穿着這一身奇特的衣服，十分引人注目，可她似乎一點兒也未發覺。她在包廂中間站了一會，與韋蘭太太討論佔據她前排右面角落座位的禮節問題，接着便莞爾聽命，與坐在對面角落裏的韋蘭太太的嫂嫂洛弗爾·明戈特太太在同一排就坐。
Mr. Sillerton Jackson had returned the opera-glass to Lawrence Lefferts. The whole of the club turned instinctively, waiting to hear what the old man had to say; for old Mr. Jackson was as great an authority on "family" as Lawrence Lefferts was on "form." He knew all the ramifications of New York's cousinships; and could not only elucidate such complicated questions as that of the connection between the Mingotts (through the Thorleys) with the Dallases of South Carolina, and that of the relationship of the elder branch of Philadelphia Thorleys to the Albany Chiverses (on no account to be confused with the Manson Chiverses of University Place), but could also enumerate the leading characteristics of each family: as, for instance, the fabulous stinginess of the younger lines of Leffertses (the Long Island ones); or the fatal tendency of the Rushworths to make foolish matches; or the insanity recurring in every second generation of the Albany Chiverses, with whom their New York cousins had always refused to intermarry--with the disastrous exception of poor Medora Manson, who, as everybody knew . . . but then her mother was a Rushworth.
西勒頓·傑克遜先生把小望遠鏡還給了勞倫斯·萊弗茨。全俱樂部的人都本能地轉過臉，等着聽這位老者開講。因爲正如勞倫斯·萊弗茨在“舉止”問題上那樣，老傑克遜先生在“家族”問題上是最高權威。他了解紐約那些堂、表親戚關係的所有支派；不僅能說清諸如明戈特家族（通過索利家族）與南卡羅來納州達拉斯家族之間的關係，以及上一支費城索利家族與阿爾巴尼·奇弗斯家族（決不會與大學區的曼森·奇弗斯族混淆）複雜的親緣，而且還能列舉每個家族的主要特點。比如萊弗茨家年輕一代（長島那些人）無比吝嗇；拉什沃斯一家極其愚蠢，總是在婚配問題上犯下致命錯誤；再如，阿爾巴尼·奇弗斯家每隔一代就會出現一個神經病，他們紐約的表兄妹一直拒絕與之通婚——惟獨可憐的梅多拉·曼森是個不幸的例外，她——人所共知……而她的母親本來就是拉什沃斯家的人。
In addition to this forest of family trees, Mr. Sillerton Jackson carried between his narrow hollow temples, and under his soft thatch of silver hair, a register of most of the scandals and mysteries that had smouldered under the unruffled surface of New York society within the last fifty years. So far indeed did his information extend, and so acutely retentive was his memory, that he was supposed to be the only man who could have told you who Julius Beaufort, the banker, really was, and what had become of handsome Bob Spicer, old Mrs. Manson Mingott's father, who had disappeared so mysteriously (with a large sum of trust money) less than a year after his marriage, on the very day that a beautiful Spanish dancer who had been delighting thronged audiences in the old Opera-house on the Battery had taken ship for Cuba. But these mysteries, and many others, were closely locked in Mr. Jackson's breast; for not only did his keen sense of honour forbid his repeating anything privately imparted, but he was fully aware that his reputation for discretion increased his opportunities of finding out what he wanted to know.
除了這種家族譜系的豐富知識之外，西勒頓·傑克遜在凹陷狹窄的兩鬢之間、柔軟濃密的銀髮下面，還保存着鬱結在紐約社會平靜表層底下的最近50年間多數醜聞與祕史的記錄。他的信息的確面廣量大，他的記憶的確精確無誤，所以人們認爲惟有他才能說出銀行家朱利葉斯·博福特究竟是何許人，老曼森·明戈特太太的父親、漂亮的鮑勃·斯派塞的結局究竟如何。後者結婚不到一年，就在一位美麗的西班牙舞蹈演員登船去古巴的那一天神祕地失蹤了（帶着一大筆委託金），她在巴特利的老歌劇院曾令蜂擁的觀衆歡欣鼓舞。不過這些祕聞——還有許多其他的——都嚴嚴實實鎖在傑克遜先生心中。因爲，不僅強烈的道義感不許他重複別人私下告訴他的任何事情，而且他十分清楚，謹慎周到的名聲會給他更多的機會，以便查明他想了解的情況。
The club box, therefore, waited in visible suspense while Mr. Sillerton Jackson handed back Lawrence Lefferts's opera-glass. For a moment he silently scrutinised the attentive group out of his filmy blue eyes overhung by old veined lids; then he gave his moustache a thoughtful twist, and said simply: "I didn't think the Mingotts would have tried it on."
所以，當西勒頓·傑克遜先生把小望遠鏡還給勞倫斯·萊弗茨的時候，俱樂部包廂的人帶着明顯的懸念等待着。他用佈滿老筋的眼瞼下那雙朦朧的藍眼睛默默地審視一番那夥洗耳恭聽的人，然後若有所思地抖動一下鬍髭，僅僅說了一句：“沒想到明戈特家的人會擺出這種架式。”
